The Royal Mews is a mews, or collection of equestrian stables, of the British royal family. In London these stables and stable-hands' quarters have occupied two main sites in turn, being located at first on the north side of Charing Cross, and then (since the 1820s) within the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace includes an extensive display of royal carriages and other associated items, and is open to the public for much of the year. It is also a working part of the palace, where horses and people live and work, and where carriages and cars are in daily use supporting the work of the monarch as head of state.
At Charing Cross
The first set of stables to be referred to as a mews was at Charing Cross at the western end of The Strand. The royal hawks were kept at this site from 1377 and the name originates from the fact that they were confined there at moulting time ("mew" being derived from the French verb "muer", to moult).
The building was destroyed by fire in 1534 and rebuilt as a stables, keeping its former name when it acquired this new function. On old maps, such as the "Woodcut" map of London of the early 1560s, the Mews can be seen extending back towards the site of today's Leicester Square.
It was rebuilt again in 1732 to the designs of William Kent, and in the early 19th century it was open to the public. This building was usually known as the King's Mews, but was also sometimes referred to as the Royal Mews, the Royal Stables, or as the Queen's Mews when there was a woman on the throne.
On 15 June 1820, the Guards in the Royal Mews mutinied in support of Caroline of Brunswick, whom King George IV was seeking to divorce.
Kent's redesign was a classical building occupying the northern half of the site, with an open space in front of it that ranked among the few large ones in central London at a time when the Royal Parks were on the fringes of the city and most squares in London were garden squares open only to the residents of their surrounding houses. The whole site was cleared in the late 1820s to create Trafalgar Square, laid out in 1837–1844 after delays, and the National Gallery which opened in 1838.
At Buckingham Palace
The present Royal Mews is in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, to the south of Buckingham Palace Gardens, near Grosvenor Place.
In the 1760s George III moved some of his day-to-day horses and carriages to the grounds of Buckingham House, which he had acquired in 1762 for his wife's use, but the main royal stables housing the ceremonial coaches and their horses remained at the King's Mews. However, when his son George IV had Buckingham Palace converted into the main royal residence in the 1820s the whole stables establishment was moved there. The current Royal Mews was built to designs by John Nash and was completed in 1825 (although the Riding School, thought to be by William Chambers, dates from the 1760s). The mews buildings have been modified extensively since.
As well as being a full-time working facility, the Royal Mews is regularly open to the public. The state coaches and other carriages are kept there, along with about 30 horses, together with their modern counterparts, the state motor cars. Coachmen, grooms, chauffeurs and other staff are accommodated in flats above the carriage houses and stables.
Royal and state carriages
A few of the carriages stored at the Mews are pictured here in action; several more are illustrated on their own pages (see listing below).
Vehicles in the care of the Royal Mews are listed below. A good number are on public display, though not all are kept in London. Most are in regular use, and some (for example, the broughams) are driven on a daily basis. Others (above all the Gold Coach) are only used on great and rare state occasions. The list includes vehicles for personal, recreational and sporting use, as well as those designed and kept for state occasions:
The Gold State Coach
The Irish State Coach
The Scottish State Coach
The Australian State Coach
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach
Queen Alexandra's State Coach
The Glass Coach
King Edward VII's Town Coach
Several landau carriages including: The 1902 State Landau Seven other state landaus Five semi-state landaus Five Ascot landaus Barouches and sociables Broughams and clarences Phaetons and victorias Sporting carriages, including a rare curricle Recreational vehicles, such as the Louis-Philippe charabanc (illustrated) A variety of pony carriages, drags and exercise vehicles
In less regular use is Queen Victoria's state sledge, one of a number of royal sleighs in the Mews.